​Most people don’t look forward to growing older, but we at the Brew are loving it. We are looking forward to a better year than last year. Year two and three wasn’t that great or that bad. Let’s see, I got shot during year two, so I grew lazy and it carried over to year three. But year four, I’m starting off more energetic than previous years. So to celebrate four, we decided to put together four of the best articles that the Brew has offered.

The first I am most excited about is an article I wrote originally in June of 2012 called Americans Without Accounts. It’s an epidemic today that Americans do not have banking intuitions that they conduct business with. That’s why there are so many check cashing places and most of your grocery stores will cash checks. It is big business, even Walmart will now cash your payroll check.

Secondly, I have to take my hat off to my guest contributor Sharice Styles. Originally, The Brew wanted to focus on health and beauty issues. But our interests have grown and our time allotted to The Brew has shrunk. Without her input, our Beauty and its Beast section and our Lifestyles section would be pretty much empty.

So special shout out to her for doing something that touches many people by surprise. And hats off to her for minimizing the gloom in someone’s life and putting a smile back on their faces. I’m talking about Sharice’s Breast Cancer Makeover, here’s the link: http://www.dailybrewconnection.com/beauty-and-its-beast

Third, I will say would be my Political Awareness section. People need to become more aware of their political surroundings. It really doesn’t matter whether someone is a Republican or a Democrat; a jerk is a jerk no matter what side he or she is on or what suit he or she is wearing. But not enough people get involved with politics, that’s why your elected officials can do the dumbest things and not have to worry about consequences. Here’s my article about Tea Party obstructionism: http://www.dailybrewconnection.com/political-awareness

There were just so many to choose from, but these four are special to me. And in year four I have something special for you. My oldest son, TJ is not much of a contributor now since he is in college. But his brother will now join in as a contributor. In year four I want to start an awards program, but haven’t found out how I’m going to do it just yet and what to consider as merit. Perhaps if you visit us bi-weekly, we could figure it and grow together. Until next time, have fun!

Here's 5 golden nuggets that will help you have a successful photo shoot for your businesses rebrand!!

• Remember to relax your face and look approachable. Although you don’t want to come off too silly avoid looking too serious and stern. A smile goes a long way.

• Less is more, especially when it comes to makeup. Make sure you have a natural look that clearly shows off your skin. They need to be able to see the real you. Not the made up version that hits the red carpets. This is also true for your accessories and props, keep them simple.

• Make sure your look clearly represents the message you want to send. If you’re a business coach and your outfit screams “I’m headed to the mall with friends” then you’re not doing yourself any justice. Think about your target market and what will attract them. Also factor in how you want your images to make them feel.

• Make sure your surroundings and backgrounds fit into the story you’re telling. Don’t just stand by a blank white wall; help our imagination see the vision of who you are!

• Practice Your Poses ~ get in a mirror and see what faces, poses, and smiles you think will represent your brand the best!!

Shoes ~ The right pair of shoes can totally take your look up a notch. Especially if you go with a monochromatic look and use your shoes to be the pop of color or the bold print in your look. So with a shoe either have a simply look where your shoe is the statement piece or a fierce look and use your shoe to be the neutral!

Necklaces ~ A necklace can literally make or break your look. I teach my clients about the perfect length for their body shape. I truly believe that some looks are not complete without the right necklace to adorn it! However, some looks do not need one at all. The key is to use it as your accent piece. If your look has a simple collar 9 times out of 10 it needs a fab necklace to take it up a notch!

Hat ~ No hats are not just for keeping you warm LOL. Hats are truly timeless. Even though there’s usually a specific style of hat that’s on trend more than likely any hat you purchase can be use year after year as long as it’s in good shape and still speaks to who you are. Allow your hat to complete the story your look is telling for the day.

Sunglasses ~ Sunglasses say a lot about your style. The shapes and colors of the frames you choose speak to a women’s personality; diva, classic, fierce, all of these things can be said without saying a word. When choosing your frames make sure it fits your face shape correctly and tells people who you are.

Handbags ~ A handbag is another accessory that truly speaks for who you are and where your brand is. Much like a pair of shoes when purchasing a handbag think quality over quantity. A good quality handbag will last you for years, so it’s worth the investment. When purchasing your quality handbags be sure to get a neutral that can be worn with almost anything in your closet. Or purchase a color that truly speaks to who you are and will flow with your overall wardrobe.

Sharice Styles is an amazing Style Consultant in the New York City area. She is also the proud owner of Red's Boutique. Her mantra is "Look good, feel great". Her life goal is to make sure people have the knowledge and education they need to help them look and feel great by adding a touch of glamour to their everyday life. Her Fashion Blog and accessory boutique can be found at www.ItsReds.com and her physical location is in Harare, Zimbabwe at 232 Enterprise RD, The Grange. #ItsReds

Here’s her 5 Favorite Things for this Summer

1. Low Wedge Sandals-

This low or kitty heeled sandal is my summers go to for my clients. It’s cute and chic and the perfect way to keep your feet from getting tired throughout your work day. It’s dressy enough to substitute any pump. I’m showing The Martin Margiela version found at Barney’s New York for $199.00. You can find a cheaper version at LuLus.com for only $79.00 (Get an extra 20% off with code: REDBOOK20 –good until July 15, 2014)

2. Teavana Oprah Chai Tea-

Anyone who knows me knows I love me some Aunty O. So when I saw a sign for her new Starbucks partnership I had to dig further. She’s partnered with Starbucks and Teavana to bring us her own version of Chai Tea. It's a Spicy blend of cinnamon, black tea and rooibos, lightly sweetened and finished with steamed milk and its Hmmm Hmmm good. Each cup of this delicious tea benefits youth education, so not only will you be enjoying the great taste of a chai tea you’ll help a young person further their education. Now what’s better than that? #IamMyBrothersKeeper #WinWin

3. African Prints-

During my recent trip to Zimbabwe I fell in love with the beautiful prints and fabrics I was seeing. The bold colors and shapes of the African prints spoke to me. So I did what I do best, SHOP!! I added some amazing looks to my wardrobe and everyone in New York seems to be in love with them. While out shopping this season keep your eyes open for bright beautiful Aztec and African prints and shapes.

4. Head Wraps –

Head wraps are everywhere this season. Personally I never put them down. It’s a great way to hide a bad hair day or to add a touch of glamour to your look. I even add a stoned or studded brooch for a dressier feel. You can find a variety of great head wrap online at my accessory boutique ItsReds.com

5. Statement Necklines-

Talk about a favorite! I’m so in love with these statement necklines. They look amazing and it takes away the need to accessorize. They’re also perfect for traveling. It cuts down on the amount of accessories you need to add to your suitcase which means more room for handbags and shoes. Statement necklines are coming studded, chained, stoned and I’ve also seen them with metal. I’ve stocked my store in Zimbabwe with all kinds of statement neckline dresses, shirts, and sweaters. Make sure to add one to your summer wardrobe.

As I had previously stated in a post on 6/14/2012, It was said back in 2008 that nearly seventeen million Americans went without having bank accounts. Martha C. White from NBCNews.com decided to also bring light to this matter. She did hers from an angle different from mine and was more in depth, but still came to the same conclusions.

Did you hear about the Sarah Jessica Parker’s Nordstrom Pop-up for her new shoe line #SJP? I told my readers back in January I’d keep you guys up to date and as promised “I was in the building”. The shoes are gorgeous. They’re fun, flirty, and very girly. Like I said in the last #Blog post there’s no doubt that she has “Carrie Fever”. The whole line just puts you in a “Sex In The City” state of mind ;-)I had the AMAZING pleasure of meeting her and she looked adorable in a bright fuchsia shirt and a multi colored flare mini skirt with tights and a pair of her sandals in teal. She was very sweet and down to earth and you could just feel her excitement. I wanted to say a thousand things but all that came out was “Nice to meet you, your shoes are beautiful ” I must say for those two seconds I had “Carrie Fever”

I feel in love with “The Etta” so she came home with me and although I had no clue she was doing coats, her beige trench coat looked so great on me, so it came home with me too. A girl may only meet #SJP once I had to show my support ;-) Plus the shoes are amazing and well worth the splurge #ItsReds

**** A special shout out to Event Specialist ~ Mari Roberts from California. Mari was at the Pop-up as well and she was nice enough to take a picture of me in my NEW trench coat ;-) Thanks again Mari, you rock!!!

(The following content is a guest post from an English contributor and this site mainly portains to those located within the UK.)

Do you have a powerful entertainment system for your car? A Car’s entertainment system has become very common and improves over time. The device comes with magnificent potential outcomes to change your own particular car’s sound system and different capacities to fit in the current “class”. There are bunches of people out there charmed and completely fixated on supplementing their fittings plans with bleeding edge uniquely designed relaxation programs while driving your car. You don’t have to be bored again; have a sound system installed in your car.

You are provided with a beefed-up mobile entertainment and cell phone reconciliation This has gotten decision emphasizes inside fresh out of the plastic new model automobiles, yet people find out the manufacturing plant sorts these decisions to be thorough, generic, undesirable, and never produce the effect they are looking for. This is the way decisions go in picture. Some customers just for sense of self finance fancy odds and ends when selecting a crisp auto and likewise planting season relating to shift decisions, which could sincerely spare cash as a result of expanded merchant mark-ups. Simultaneously, you get outstanding things for the money.

You need to redesigned your car stereo Regarding in-car pleasure, presumably the most essential component for the larger part will be the sound system for your entertainment. Tunes can process a sort of additionally fulfilling, all things considered, stock sound, but frameworks on the norm simply won't do. Play hand crafted sounds systems as the best sound tracks Hand crafted sound frameworks as rules are the beginning sound tracks parcel positioned in lieu with the producer varieties. Together with really many appearances, shapes, varieties and wattage accessible, your inventiveness may be the simple stipulation. Whether this floats your angling vessel, you can even get custom capacity finished on your own auto's inner part to get amplifiers put in where they will wasn't preceding. A set up master can undoubtedly smoothly fulfil each of the indoor perform, electrical wiring as well as presence in your car.

You can incorporate your Smartphone with your car’s entertainment system Mobile telephones have developed to provide you with what you need from the outside world. Custom mobile phone module is getting to be essentially yet an alternate traveller inside your car. Without hand mounts as well as smooth little earphones are no more basically the most on-going phone combination realistic, as vehicle discourse handle and also Wi-Fi joining have gotten to be shockingly smart.

You can enjoy tunes and social sites while driving Tunes, social sites, without hands and touch screen presentation steering, climate, guest’s advisories, e-mail services, make phone calls, and messaging could be completely represented without having difficulties while driving. Go for a DSA theory test A car’s entertainment components are found to satisfy an individual's needs only when used properly. As a result, you will need to know how to use the new system in your car. To gain experience with your new system it is advisable to go for a DSA theory test before you start using it. The time is now, time for you to procure a sound system that is excellent, effective, and the best to entertain you in your car.

In celebrating Black History, do we know the history of Black History?

It actually began in 1926 and it was originally called Negro History Week. It was ushered in by a historian Carter G. Woodson and The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. It was set for the second week of February because of the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. In its inaugural run, The Department of Education had the cooperation of three states along with school administrations of Baltimore and Washington D.C. For one week they would teach the history of American Blacks. Woodson said it showed signs of progress and it would gain support if done on an annual basis. Other than the Department of Education, the program had support of many Black churches throughout the nation.

In 1926 Carter G. Woodson faced controversy in the creation of Negro History Week, the predecessor of Black History Month. Below is a quote from him explaining his reasoning for its creation.

"If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated. The American Indian left no continuous record. He did not appreciate the value of tradition; and where is he today? The Hebrew keenly appreciated the value of tradition, as is attested by the Bible itself. In spite of worldwide persecution, therefore, he is a great factor in our civilization."

As thought, Negro History Week gained popularity with each passing year and more and more states, metropolitans, and school districts picked up on the concept. As the decades went by the name was converted to Black History Week.

In February of 1969, students at Kent State University wanted to extend it from a week to the entire month. One year later, they would celebrate it for the whole month at Kent State. Once again, the program picked up steam and by the bicentennial, Black History Month was officially recognized by the United States government.

President Gerald Ford's remarks were as follows:

"seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history."

Honestly, is anything wrong with the statement that President Ford made. So many people of so many colors support the efforts of Black History and so many people of so many colors also oppose it.

I ask of those that are supporting the movement, while embracing the inventors, the civil rights leaders, the entrepreneurs, and the athletes, please remember the father of the Black History Movement, Carter G. Woodson.

Today marks the one year anniversary for the Daily Brew. There have been lots of ups and downs for the site. Some suggesting that the Brew was probably done, and others stating that we are well on our way. Nevertheless, if I could, I wouldn't change any bit of it.After One Year Online This Is What We Accomplished.Our Biggest Day: Our biggest day occurred on July 17th 2012. On that date we received 798 hits, which 543 were unique. This was a great day for us and it's success I would say is because of the Brew's twitter account and the fact that Andrea had the idea to open a Twitter account after I said I doubt it would help. Yes folks, I just learned the wonders of Twitter. How Could I have missed out on such a beauty.Our Best Guests: Our Best Guests, would be all of our guests, whether it was in our books or music sections. Our In Review section had it's best performance in the books section. Many of those authors still have a working relationship with The Daily Brew to this day. They took a chance on The Brew, without knowing truly if it would be something in the best interest of their careers by saying yes.

The Daily Brew was a new entity, one without a traditional setting. What we mean by that, we are more than just a regular blog, but not quite as equipped and staffed as a magazine, but try to function as both. At any given period, our guest could have said no, but they didn’t and I hope our exposure did have a positive effect on their careers.

We had guest in our In Review section of books. Guest included David Ware Sr., author of A True Thug Wilsin. We also had Brian Bandell, Author of Mute. And our greatest response was for author Dina Rae, author of books, Bad JuJu, The Last Degree, Halo of the Damned, and Be Paranoid, Be Prepared, a prequel to The Last Degree. All these guest were quite fun. One of the downsides of operating as a blogazine was having limited time for preparation on articles. This gave us the look of having dormant areas on our site. Some areas are naturally dormant due to the lack of interest they had generated. Others we just did not have the time to get to since there is no full time paid staff for The Daily Brew at this point, a problem hopefully corrected this year.What To Look Forward To: This year we want to dramatically increase our traffic. We look to do this by bringing you original content on a more frequent basis like twice a week verses our every Thursday, which actually worked out to one Thursday a month. We also look to bring in guest bloggers to help add content to our struggling dormant sections and generate income for those guest. We will also sponsor more contest. We had two last year. One did result in a winner; the other was cancelled due to lack of participation. This year we plan to re-run both those contest and will add about three more and increase our prize jackpots. Look for this to happen this upcoming June. So if you have been one of the ones who have taken interest in The Daily Brew and checked in with us each week to see if we had something new in store, this year we look to not disappoint you. With the option of bringing in guest bloggers and adding to our list of contributors, we plan to bring you brilliant content that only The Daily Brew can offer you. Thanks for believing in us.

In today's economy, our buck doesn't go as far as it use to, especially at the pumps. But we the people can fight back high prices at the pump by buying cars with better MPG, something like a hybrid. Yes, the hybrids( Prius) have been the joke of many shows such as Family Guy and the movie The Other Guys. But hybrids are actually looking good nowadays. And if your scraping change to put gas in the car, I guess the jokes on you Jack! Nah, I'm not going there, but you may want to look into getting a hybrid. All these cars that we mentioned are very pestigious cars in our opinion. We test drove these and looked them over to present this article in hopes that it will help in your car buying decisions in 2013. (We apologize to all the salesmen who thought they were making sales, maybe another day.) We are in no way putting these cars down (like Hollywood and their hate for a car.) We just wanted to point out some things you may have not known or have not considered. With that being said, these are our top five suggestions.

The Daily Brew's top hybrid, the Ford Fusion!

The top hybrid on The Daily Brew Connections recommendations list is the Ford Fusion. The Fusion was voted unanimously by the Brew's contributors(all 3 of us,) as our number one pick. It was best in our research in style(looks), milage, and comfort ability. As we compared our hybrids, we wanted something that looked classy. By far we all thought that this one looked the best( Andrea also liked the Civic and Camry for best.)With it's MPG at 47 for city and hwy, easily fits five (we put six in it okay), and execptional trunk space. Price puts this car right at about 32K

The Brew's second choice, the Honda Civic!

The Honda Civic was an awesome choice only falling to the Fusion by looks and by something more tangible like MPG at 44 for city and hwy.

In comparison to the Fusion, this car seemed some what smaller (cars were not campared side by side nor on the same days.) However, the price was a lot better at 25K.

The Brew's third choice, The Toyota Camry!

This car certainly had the look and was just as spacious as the Fusion. However, it came at a cost and that cost was enough to push the Camry to third on our list.It came with a better price at around 27K, but the MPG just wasn't there. To us, that's the main thing about a hybrid, save me at the pump. Its MPG came in at 43 city and 39 hwy (we think this is backwards, but that's how the info was passed to us.)

The Brew's fourth choice, The Hyundai Sonata!

This car had a decent look to it, but certain things just wasn't there for us to raise it above fourth. What we like most in a hybrid is its MPG, and this one was lower than those in the top. MPG 34 city 39 hwy. Also It seemed a bit smaller in comparison in spaciousness with the Fusion. It's priced decent at around 26K

The Brew's fifth choice, Chevrolet Volt!

This is not much of a spacious car compared to the Fusion. To us, this one seemed more to have been designed for those who like power in a car. Our test drive showed us that this had a little more "get up and go," than the others, while also saving some cash at the pump. MPG at 35 city 40 hwy, but they kill you on price at around 38K.

Now for the Honorable Mentions. Some cars had good milage but just didn't have that stylish appeal to us or it just couldn't fit a large sized family. Some cars, like the Prius, gets the honrable mention but we couldn't recommend something that was associated with a "Soup Kitchen" in The Other Guys. If you can get past the joke, it is a damn good car with the MPG at 51 city and 48 hwy (And no, we didn't even test drive it.) The Ford C Max was good at MPG 47 city and 47 hwy, but we had a Ford in the top five so we decided no on cars in the same family. Also the Toyota Avalon fell to the same rule. But they were all awesome cars. I hope many will sell in 2013, and I hope that we opened your eyes to getting one in 2013.